Snap Inc. has quietly acquired the team behind Swiss startup Strong.Codes, a maker of tools that obscures software code and makes it harder for competitors to copy.

In early 2017 Snap hired Laurent Balmelli, an engineer who co-founded Strong.Codes. The rest of the four-strong team has since joined Balmelli, according to a person familiar with the move and information on their LinkedIn profile pages. The new hires will remain working in Switzerland. Strong.Codes has since closed.

Snap has also placed advertisements seeking to hire information security experts and cryptographers in Switzerland, and has been slowly increasing its European presence. It’s one of the lead sponsors at Black Alps 17, a cybersecurity conference at Yverdon-les-Bains, northeast of Geneva, and in May hired Facebook Inc.’s Marianne Bullwinkel as country manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

Discovery Communications wants to offer web-TV service for the price of a Starbucks latte and sees HGTV’s owner as a key part of it.

Discovery is one of two companies, along with Viacom, vying to buy Scripps Networks Interactive, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The negotiations are at advanced stages and a deal could be announced by the end of the month, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Both see the parent of HGTV and the Food Network as a solid addition to their own channel lineups.

But Discovery has an added reason. With pay TV having to compete with online options like Netflix, the owner of unscripted channels like Animal Planet and TLC wants to bundle the Scripps networks with its own in an online service for as little as $3 to $4 a month, a person familiar with the company’s thinking said. Discovery has already weighed selling a sports-free service with programmers like Viacom and AMC Networks for less than $20 a month, Bloomberg reported in April.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

Most business books will tell you that the secret to success is grounded in becoming a customer of your own products and services. Put yourself in customers’ shoes to see how they interact with your product and what the overall experience feels like. The main idea is that being a good customer will make you a good leader.

That idea is wrong.

All too often, leaders think that their personal experiences with their brand are accurate reflections of all customers’ experiences with their brand. They make decisions based on what would personally make them happier, and focus on details of the experience that matter to them. In doing so, however, they forget that many (if not most) customers have different needs, interests and experiences.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

By adiaz@creativity-online.com(Ann-Christine Diaz)

Nearly two years before Publicis dropped its Marcel news at the Cannes Lions, JWT embarked on an artificial intelligence mission of its own. In 2015, the agency quietly began developing Pangaea, an A.I.-powered system that’s helping to turn agency network’s 12,000-strong staff into an information and problem-solving resource.

Pangaea takes its cues from the supercontinent that inspired its name — by bringing together the JWT community across all cultures and disciplines. It invites any employee to pose a question or problem to the entire network in the hopes that they’ll get useful advice from staffers with related experience and expertise. A question could be as specific as “What kind of communication innovation do you expect to see in the next World Cup?” or as philosophical as “What does the word ‘destiny’ mean to you?'”

While this may sounds like little more than throwing out a question over email or Slack, artificial intelligence acts as a differentiator.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

Shares in Sears Holdings kicked off their biggest rally in almost two months after the company agreed to sell its Kenmore line on Amazon.com and integrate Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa into the appliances. That means the company’s air conditioners and other devices will respond to voice commands.

Terms of the partnership weren’t disclosed, and it’s unclear how much of a boost Sears will get from the arrangement. But the company is badly in need of growth. Once the world’s largest retail chain, Sears has racked up more than $10 billion in losses over the past six years.

The announcement brings fresh hope that Sears can adapt to a rapidly shifting retail landscape. Department-store chains have been hard hit by sluggish mall traffic and online shopping. By teaming up with Amazon, Sears brings new life to its more-than-century-old Kenmore name and opens up a new sales channel.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

Google’s next earnings call is slated for Monday.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

Sean McInerney, VP-technology at Huge, has some thoughts on small agencies’ approach to tech investing that you really ought to hear. Recorded at Ad Age’s annual Small Agency Conference, which took place this year in Nashville.

Also from the conference, Barton F. Graf’s Jeff Benjamin delivered 3 brisk tips on surviving advertising and Kastner & Partner’s Brandon Rochon explained how small agencies should invest in start-ups.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

By glsoane@adage.com(Garett Sloane)

Credit: Illustration by Tam Nguyen/Ad Age

Facebook’s plan to let publishers sell subscriptions on its platform is renewing some of its media partners’ optimism about their future together.

Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships at Facebook, confirmed at an industry event this week that the social network will let publishers set up paywalls on the content they publish using Instant Articles, which let Facebook users read without actually visiting publishers’ sites.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

By wjarvis@adage.com(Will Jarvis)

Chipotle is hoping a musical and visual online experience can help the company bounce past yet another PR hit.

The chain called on the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA to help create and introduce Savor.Wavs, a microsite that assembles music and visuals based on visitors’ picks from the Chipotle menu.

That includes the meat and dairy, even though RZA is a vegan.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

Years ago, Google built a social network separate from its prized asset, web search. The effort failed. Now the company is trying again — only this time, it’s turning its search engine into something that looks a lot like the news feed of a social network.

The Alphabet Inc. unit is introducing a tailored feed of news, entertainment and myriad web content based on users’ searches, YouTube video views and other personal information. It’s an expansion of an older mobile service called Google Now. Yet some new bells and whistles — information from local trends and an ability to “follow” public figures, for instance — give Google’s search feed a similar feel to the algorithmic stream of Facebook’s News Feed. That feature has helped Facebook capture online attention like few other companies.

“We want people to understand they’re consuming information from Google,” Sashi Thakur, a Google engineering VP, told reporters. “It will just be without a query.”

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Source:: AdAge – Digital